Aggressive anti-Russian policies will ultimately cost European countries dearly, Dmitry Peskov warned
The EU will pay a high price for confronting Russia on Washington’s orders, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said he said.
During an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin, which aired on Russia 1 on Sunday, Peskov was asked to comment on the escalatory rhetoric coming from the West recently, including discussions about allowing Ukraine to use foreign weapons to strike deep into Russian territory, as well as vocal support from Washington and Brussels for the continued incursion of Kiev’s forces into Russia’s Kursk region.
Peskov recalled the statement made by EU foreign policy commissioner Josep Borrell, who said in mid-August that Ukraine had the bloc “full support” for his offensive at Kursk. Borrell is a diplomat, but he “acts like a defense minister and a hawk”, said the press secretary in the interview.
“European countries, led by the US, are in a state of confrontation. They are playing the role assigned to them by Washington in this whole story, to the detriment of their own interests and the wallets of their taxpayers,” the spokesperson stressed, referring to more than $121 billion in financial and military aid provided by the EU to Kiev since the escalation with Moscow in February 2022.
Involvement in the conflict will “have profound consequences for [the EU]. It is inevitable and in the next decade we will witness these negative consequences”, he counted Russia 1.
But if the West goes too far in its standoff with Russia over Ukraine, “knowing the determination of our president [Vladimir Putin]knowing the potential of our country, which has proven to be even greater than we expected, as demonstrated by the pace of economic development and the military mobilization of our economy, I have no doubt that, if necessary, everything will be done to protect our interests”, Peskov said.
Moscow’s response in this case would be “effective and required by our national interests”, he added, without revealing further details.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has renewed his calls for the country’s Western backers to allow long-range strikes on Russian territory during Kiev’s ongoing incursion into the Kursk region. However, he has yet to receive approval.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that Ukraine has lost more than 8,500 soldiers and hundreds of units of military equipment, including 80 tanks and 69 armored personnel carriers, since the start of the assault on internationally recognized Russian territory on Aug. 6. “The operation to destroy the formations of the Armed Forces of the Ukrainian unit continues” in the Kursk region, the ministry emphasized.